Sickness is not What it Seems
by Soimcoolwithlife
Summary: Ethan and Sarah look out for Connor when he gets sick. Please Review!


**I will finish Faults. I promise soon. But for the next installment of my series, Pasts, well here you go. I am going to write the claustrophobic Connor one with Ethan, and I have plans to do Panic!Connor and Confused!Latham. I will write more Connalie, some Dying!Connor and Upset!Will, and Hostage!Savior!Stabbed!Connor and Angsty!Reese with Angtsy!April. Any Suggestions? Let me know. Also, I was so eager to put this out I didn't beta it. Any mistakes are mine. R and R!**

Really, Ethan knew Connor had looked tired. They all had noticed, after a while. He looked run down and exhausted. But really, no one had suspected that Connor would just collapse.

 **~2 weeks ago~**

Connor looked like a mess, and everyone knew it. The nurses gossiped and word traveled fast. Soon, Maggie had pulled them aside and told them to 'look out for Dr. Rhodes, before he drops dead in my ER'.

The few times they saw him, he looked like a zombie that had gotten run over by a truck. His skin was pale, and he would squeeze his eyes shut like a headache raged through his brain.

Ethan knew that medically, those were bad signs. But really, being tired was not a crime, and they couldn't really do anything about it.

So, when Connor didn't show up at work on a cold Tuesday morning, everyone was relieved. Whatever he was sick with would knock him out enough so that he didn't keel over with exhaustion.

When he was still gone on Wednesday morning, the staff still kept their cool. Only thing was, after Dr. Downey died, Dr. Rhodes and Zanetti were the only totally qualified non-resident trauma surgeons. After Dr. Zanetti took off to god knows where, Connor was the closest thing to a full time attending they had. And then when Connor went with Dr. Latham, their part time surgeon didn't even do as much as Connor. Dr. Latham had to scrub in on Wednesday, then on Thursday.

By Friday, the staff were worried. There was a difference between not showing up to work and calling in sick. Connor had never called in, and everyone was kind of freaking out.

On Friday, around noon, Maggie pulled him over.

"Hey, have you heard from Connor?"

"Not really. You think he's sick?" Ethan said, glancing at a patients chart, making no eye contact.

"Can you just drop by, just to see if he is alright?"

 **~CM~**

Honestly, Ethan didn't really want to. He was busy, and Connor was probably fine. But after he look Maggie had given him, he found himself at Connor's door. Ms. Goodwin gave him the address, and apparently, he was supposed to leave immediately.

So that's why he was staring at Connor's door. He lived in an ok neighborhood, in a small but nice looking apartment.

He rang the bell, to no answer. He knocked, but there was no sign of movement. He sighed, and took out the key he was given.

The second he entered, he knew there was something wrong. Connor's messenger bag was on the floor, and the light in the kitchen was on. The place was completely silent.

It was nice. It was modern, and organized, small but roomy, and very Connor. It just seemed like him.

He slowly made his way up the stairs, trying not to feel like he was intruding. The hallway he came to stumped him. There were quite a few doors. He didn't want to be loud, and certainly didn't want to waste time looking into every room. Plus, it felt wrong.

So he guessed. The door at the very very end of the hall, closest to the street but farthest, he noticed, from the view of Dolan Rhodes.

He approached the door, cautiously swinging it open at the slightest touch.

The sight that met his eyes was not one he was expecting.

Connor was in bed, pale and in pain. He obviously had a fever, from the sweat beading up on his forehead. He coughed every few seconds, and his breath seemed like he couldn't draw it.

But he was still asleep. 'Asleep? Or unconscious?' Ethan asked himself.

He quickly made his way to the ill doctor's bedside. Connor was obviously in pain, his arms circling his chest and stomach.

Ethan pulled out his phone, frowning.

"Ms. Goodwin? I'm with Connor. It doesn't look to good."

 **~CM~**

Reese was staring, and she knew that. She scolded herself, forced herself to look away from the gurney Dr. Rhodes was lying on.

Shirtless.

Honestly, the doctor was always so kind to her, and yeah, every female nurse in the building(and some guys too) thought he was smoking hot.

Ans now she knew why. Dr. Rhodes, shirtless, was not a sight they would usually see. But now, well, her hormones didn't help. Even sick, he looked amazing. Perfect abs, and eyes, and a smile...

She could see why they all ogled him, but she did not have a crush on Dr. Rhodes. The were friends, and good ones. Anyway, he looked sick. Really sick.

He was being hooked up to monitors and an oxygen mask, as the doctors tried to diagnose him. She cursed herself for taking psychology.

She walked up to Dr. Choi, who was in charge of Dr. Rhodes's case. He was staring intently at the chart, a bit confused.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" She asked. When she received no reply, she cleared her throat.

"Hm? Oh, not yet. It looks like pneumonia, but chest and abdominal pain this bad... And his cough is dry. I can't figure it out."

He looked frustrated, and she shared the emotion. Dr. Rhodes was always kind to them, if not down to earth. Plus, the sooner Connor could do surgerys the sooner the doctors wouldn't ask her to talk to Dr. Latham. The guy was nice, but he could be alienating all the same.

"Fever, cough, trouble breathing, and severe chest and abdominal pain? Fatigue? That's textbook case Acute Chest Syndrome, caused by Sickle Cell Disease. We should run a blood panel," she said, confident of her diagnosis.

"You could be right, but that could also be anything else. We can run the blood panel all the same," he remarked. She made to walk away to order the panel, but Dr. Choi started to frantically flip through Connor's records.

"Wait. There is no indication of Sickle Cell Disease. That's not on the forms."

She glanced over his shoulder at he box for medical conditions. He was right, it wasn't listed on the form.

Suddenly, all the machines started beeping frantically.

"We need a crash cart!"

 **~CM~**

It had been a long day, and she was looking forward to rest. But for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to go home.

So she stayed in the uncomfortable plastic chair, next to Dr. Choi. She would stay here, until Connor woke up again.

It was Acute Chest Syndrome, and after a few blood transfusions, anitibotics, and a brief stay on the ventilator, Connor Rhodes was getting better.

Everyone said they should go home, because Connor was not waking up any time soon. Patients in comas don't do that.

Like they needed to tell her and Ethan that. They were doctors.

But, they were also good people. And before Connor had slipped into a coma, he was awake. He looked scared.

 _Scared_ was not an emotion they expected to see. Maybe upset, but never scared. But really, it took all her willpower not to break down when he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.

" _Please, I really don't want them to call anyone."_

And soon, he was under and seizing and being hooked up to a vent and his second blood transfusion.

She had gone to the nurse who was trying to find contact information, and snatched the phone from her hands. She knew it was rude, but honestly she was done.

But word traveled fast in Chicago, and it so happened that Erin Lindsay had stopped by to check on a patient, had heard that Connor was sick, and since she and Connor were apparently close, told someone at the district, who was Claire's boyfriend. Claire car storming in to the ICU, asking for her brother.

They had no choice but to let her in. She just stared at Connor, pale and in pain and hooked up to machined and blood. She just stared, and then she stormed out.

The next day, she came, bringing Cornelius Rhodes. He just smirked when he saw his son. The second he entered the room and started talking to Claire, the heart monitors went wild.

And that's when Ethan stormed in, pushing them out and pushing Haldol into Connor's IV.

That was the moment where everyone looked like they would absolutely dread to tell Connor his dad was there when he woke up.

That was why she and Ethan had been sitting by Connor's bedside for roughly two days. They watched him, made sure he was fine.

They would stay until she was fine. Until he was stable. Until he was out of the ICU.

He just needed to wake up.

She felt herself falling asleep again, but she stared at Connor for a minute more.

 _"Hey."_

And his vibrant blue eyes closed once more.


End file.
